The influence of osteopathic correction to the level of stress in patients with cervicobrachialgia

Abstract

Introduction . For modern people stress is an inevitable part of their life. Unfortunately, it is often assumed that stress is just a transient nervous tension that does not require treatment. This delusion only exacerbates the situation: one stressful situation is replaced by another, and the state of health is constantly deteriorating, and the psychosomatic disorders develop that have various clinical manifestations. Stress also aggravates the course of an existing pathology, and the presence of pathology is in itself a powerful stress factor. It should also be noted that stress is often accompanied by somatic dysfunctions for which osteopathic correction is effective. It is also impossible to imagine a modern person without dorsopathies, often associated with a sedentary lifestyle. Today, approximately 45 % of dorsopathies are in the cervical spine, of which 41.3 % of patients have cervicocranialgia. This pathology is characterized by frequent recurrence and progression, especially in people of the most working age, and it causes a high medical and social significance of cervicocranialgia. Frequent anomalies of the craniocervical zone, extensive fascial, visceral and muscle connections at the regional and global level, participation in the membrane system of mutual tension of the dura mater and suture structures of the skull — all this necessitates an integrated approach to the treatment of patients with cervicocranialgia, including osteopathic correction. All of the above allowed us to suggest that osteopathic correction may influence stress levels in patients with cervicocranialgia. The goal of research — to study the effect of osteopathic correction on the level of stress in patients with cervicocranialgia in a state of severe psychological stress. Materials and methods . The study involved 24 patients suffering from cervicocranialgia, characterized by prolonged exposure to severe psychological stress and high levels of cortisol in the blood. The study participants were divided into a control (12 people) and an experimental (12 people) group by the method of simple randomization using a random number generator. Participants in both groups received standard drug treatment for cervicocranialgia: non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, B vitamins, muscle relaxants, angioprotectors and microcirculation correctors. The participants in the experimental group additionally received osteopathic correction. In both groups, before and after the course of treatment, the patients’ osteopathic status was assessed, the stress level was assessed using the PSM-25 psychological stress scale, and the morning blood cortisol level was measured. The obtained results were processed by methods of parametric and nonparametric statistics. Results . It was found that both the standard drug treatment of patients suffering from cervicocranialgia and the complex treatment with the use of osteopathic correction contribute to a statistically significant decrease in the level of cortisol in the blood (p<0,0001 in the experimental group, p=0,001 in the control group). But only complex treatment, including osteopathic correction, was accompanied by a significant decrease in the level of psychological stress (p=0,001) and the number of regional somatic dysfunctions (p<0,005) in the participants of the experimental group. In the patients of the experimental group, the improvement in all indicators was statistically significantly more pronounced (p <0,01) than in the participants of the control group. Conclusion . The obtained results demonstrate that the addition of osteopathic correction to the drug therapy of the patients with cervicocranialgia in a state of severe psychological stress gives a pronounced effect of the stress level reducing.